I have extremely limited knowledge when it comes to electronics and this field and need help creating a prototype. I wanna create a tobacco bowl which can keep track of how many times you use it. So the product would be a glass device with a sensor that detects hot ash going through the hole at the bottom of the bowl (ASH ONLY). It's very vital to the item that only the hot ash would get detected and would be connected to a counter. If anyone can give me any knowledge or advice on how to create this particular sensor it would be much appreciated, I'll even pay you! Any questions or comments are very welcomed.

 

What else is going to be flowing through the bowl but ash (and smoke)? Why put that stipulation on it?
Don't you want to track a smoke event?
What possible point would there be in measuring times a bowl has been cashed?
But I suppose its possible to detect the partial solids in the ash vs the smoke..
Or why not have a spring loaded bowl that depresses a switch when its "packed"?

Is this a hookah?
What about a pressure sensor on the tubes to detect sucking? <--easy/likely best solution if all you want is a "hit/toke counter"

 

It's kinda stupid I never thought of that, smoke could work to. It would be a bowl for a bong and would like the counter to be very accurate so you couldn't manipulate the amount of times it's been used. Is it possible for a sensor to detect the smoke that is pulled through the bowl and nothing else? The whole purpose of the device would be to track every time someone uses it so you can keep track of how much you smoke. I personally quit but know kids who take like 10 bong rips a day and would be cool to keep track. Thank you for the ideas they were very helpful since I know little to nothing. I also believe a pressure sensor at the bottom of the bowl could work well too. How would I go about getting these devices and connecting them to a counter?

What else is going to be flowing through the bowl but ash (and smoke)? Why put that stipulation on it?
Don't you want to track a smoke event?
What possible point would there be in measuring times a bowl has been cashed?
But I suppose its possible to detect the partial solids in the ash vs the smoke..
Or why not have a spring loaded bowl that depresses a switch when its "packed"?

Is this a hookah?
What about a pressure sensor on the tubes to detect sucking? <--easy/likely best solution if all you want is a "hit/toke counter"

 

Would it work to track the temperature of the bowl and just count how many times it gets hot and cools back off again? There are piles of temperature sensors. A basic thermocouple would do the trick and be very easy to read.

 

That would work too, I would just need to figure out how to connect it to a counter.

Would it work to track the temperature of the bowl and just count how many times it gets hot and cools back off again? There are piles of temperature sensors. A basic thermocouple would do the trick and be very easy to read.

 

Yeah I would either do a pressure sensor then or temperature sensor as stated... which depends on specifics not yet known.. probably temperature sensor
Use a small microprocessor with wifi to do the counting and pass the data to the app/logging website (you did plan on a phone app too right?)..
I hope you do the right thing and come back with a monetary token of appreciation should this take off
And yes.. I used "token" as a pun..

One could easily whip up a prototype with a ESP32

Now its all just down to mechanical packaging... Maybe a small cube no bigger than 1" x 1" x 1" with a ring that fits around existing bowl/stem sizes that houses the temp sensor (somehow I know there are 2 standard diameters of stems )

 

Of course I won't forget you mcgyvr! I'm going to try and make a prototype... If I have any questions is it all right if i reach out to you?

Yeah I would either do a pressure sensor then or temperature sensor as stated... which depends on specifics not yet known.. probably temperature sensor
Use a small microprocessor with wifi to do the counting and pass the data to the app/logging website (you did plan on a phone app too right?)..
I hope you do the right thing and come back with a monetary token of appreciation should this take off
And yes.. I used "token" as a pun..

One could easily whip up a prototype with a ESP32

Now its all just down to mechanical packaging... Maybe a small cube no bigger than 1" x 1" x 1" with a ring that fits around existing bowl/stem sizes that houses the temp sensor (somehow I know there are 2 standard diameters of stems )

 

You could use a micro processor, or just for kicks you could go all analog with a display. Use a voltage divider with the thermocouple, and a schmitt trigger (and maybe an opamp) connected to a decade counter IC that outputs BCD. Connect those outputs to a BCD-to-7-segment display decoder and a 7 segment display, and you have an all analog solution. Maybe you can find a counter with non-volatile memory so that it remembers the count after powering off. Hopefully one of the guys strong in analog can identify any holes in this idea, aside from the fact that you would probably need a couple of counters so you can count higher than 9.

 

It's kinda stupid I never thought of that, smoke could work to. It would be a bowl for a bong and would like the counter to be very accurate so you couldn't manipulate the amount of times it's been used. Is it possible for a sensor to detect the smoke that is pulled through the bowl and nothing else? The whole purpose of the device would be to track every time someone uses it so you can keep track of how much you smoke. I personally quit but know kids who take like 10 bong rips a day and would be cool to keep track. Thank you for the ideas they were very helpful since I know little to nothing. I also believe a pressure sensor at the bottom of the bowl could work well too. How would I go about getting these devices and connecting them to a counter?

I think the only reason I am responding is because I, literally, laughed out load, reading the above...especially "I personally quit but know kids who take like 10 bong rips a day and would be cool to keep track."

I don't know why that is so funny, since so many of us are counting on those bong-rippers to keep SS going...but I digress.

You already have received a number of good responses and I think, regardless of which you choose, you would increase your chance of success if you start thinking about pattern recognition.

So, for example, if you have a simple photo-emitter/detector pair in the stem somewhere, you will be able to detect the presence of smoke (literally anything that occludes the beam). But, then you have to operationally define a "rip"...something like a xxx amount of occlusion for yyy amount of time. An embedded controller would work nicely...and run a display easily...and it could say "doooood" every once in a while as well.